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Gilt’s Jetsetter Expands Travel Discounts to Third Parties

March 15, 2011
All Things D
by Tricia Duryee

Jetsetter, the Gilt Groupe’s foray into into the travel world, is partnering with ASmallWorld, an invitation-only social networking site, to expand its audience beyond its own membership base of two million users.

ASmallWorld’s members now will be able to purchase the same discounts for luxury excursions normally found on Jettsetter.

Deals range from a hotel on Daytona Beach Shores for $95 a night to something as exotic as the Maldives’ South Malé Atoll on the Indian Ocean for $580 a night.

The partnership will go live officially in April, and will offer a mix of what’s currently found on Jetsetter in addition to some deals picked especially for the community, said Drew Patterson, Jetsetter Founder and CEO.

Patterson told us that ASmallWorld may be the first of many partnerships. “They aren’t the only ones that have expressed appreciation and admiration on what we’ve done,” he said.

Right now, Jettsetter is the only division of Gilt Groupe which has explored a white-label approach.

Gilt’s main business provides flash sales of clothing and other department store items in a daily email. Likewise, its Gilt City brand provides heavily discounted items to local services, like restaurants and spas.

Patterson said he did not know if the other divisions had plans to copy Jetsetter.

“I think there’s a lot of cross-fertilization and ideas spreading across the city companies.”

To be sure, the white-label approach is increasingly common in the space, including the high-profile launch of Group Commerce last week.

As part of the deal, ASmallWorld members will also be able to book properties from Jetsetter 24/7, a collection of hotels that are always available regardless of the current special offers.

In the six weeks since 24/7 launched, Patterson said it already makes up 15 percent of the site’s revenues.

Jettsetter, which launched in September 2009, has two million members, of which about two-thirds overlap with the other Gilt sites. Jetsetter targets affluent, younger professionals with six-figure incomes.

Other daily deals sites have expanded into travel, including LivingSocial’s Escapes.

“We are flattered that many people are getting inspired by the model. We certainly feel like we are on to something. I think competition makes you keep your game up and continue to innovate. We think as big and mature as the online travel space is, there’s a lot of parts of booking travel that can go beyond price comparison. We have a lot of work left to do.”